The talk will serve as an introduction to this remarkable discovery and
the treatment of its books of Herculaneum. David Blank is a student of anci
ent philosophy, from the Presocratics to the alter Platonists. He has worke
d especially on philosophy of language and philology in antiquity. He has a
lso worked extensively on the Herculaneum Papyri and is editing several pap
yri Philodemus' On Rhetoric. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of
Classics at UCLA.